Adaptation

The test of a dogs intelligence is done by throwing a blanket over the dog, and timing how quickly they get out.  How quick they adapt to the dark, the sudden loss of sensory input.  Jack Russell’s are the fastest (or so I hear). 

What happens when the lights are turned off in our lives?  When we lose all sense of direction; feel cut off from the world.  How long does it take us to get out from under that blanket?  I think the, ever annoying, Jack Russell would put us to shame. 

The problem is we don’t adapt.  We think we do, but we don’t;  not really.  We pride ourselves on our ability to bounce back from obstacles, find a new job after being laid off, build a new life in a new city.  But do we really adapt?  We just do the same things we always do.  Routine.  Fall back on what we know and make it work in the new situation.  Sure, you could use the word adapt, but we don’t change ourselves.  We don’t change our habits.  What happens when what we always do, doesn’t work?  Typically we crumble.  We are at the very best, slow to adapt. 

Take the one thing you dislike about yourself the most.  It’s probably not the fat gut, skinny arms or big nose. That one thing you don’t often admit to yourself.  And never to anyone else.  How long have you wanted to change that?  How long have you been trying to adapt?

I think, we humans, continuously fail the blanket test.  We are the equivalent of a dog that just lays down & accepts it.  We live in the dark, and don’t even know how to fight for the light.  In fact, we may have grown so comfortable in the dark that the light is the new test.  How quickly do we retreat back under the blanket?  I’m certain, we’d beat the Jack Russell on that one.

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